Crispy Air Fryer Fish Sticks

Crispy breaded keto fish sticks! This air fryer fish recipe is so simple and a total family pleaser. Don’t have an air fryer? Don’t worry, I also included instructions for your oven.

Do yourself a favour. If you are going to invest in any new kitchen equipment over the next year or so, get yourself an air fryer. I recently purchased one and it has been life changing. Or rather, it has been dinner changing. It’s opened up a whole new world of keto dinner recipes that take far less time, less effort, and less mess. I suspect that as the popularity of air fryers increases, we will see a huge onslaught of air fryer recipes.

And this air fryer fish recipe is the first from me! These crispy keto fish sticks were so good and my kids loved them. They took all of about 20 minutes total to make. It may be my new favorite way to cook fish, especially for the family.

What is an Air Fryer?

The term fryer is something of a misnomer here, because air fryers don’t really fry your food at all. Frying refers to cooking things in fats or oils, and air fryer recipes don’t rely on any fats for cooking.

An air fryer really is just a small convection oven that circulates the hot air so effectively that it produces a crispiness similar to deep frying foods. Without all the mess.

Don’t get me wrong, I love deep fried foods and I am certainly going to keep making them. I have no fear of the added fats and oils in them, and in fact, I relish the added flavor and fat. But deep frying is a lot of work, uses up huge amounts of oil, and requires a lot of clean up. Not to mention that your house will smell like deep fried foods for days, no matter how well you ventilate it.

Deep frying is a special occasion kind of thing, whereas the air fryer is so easy and so fast, I could easily use it every day.

Admittedly, I am just getting started with this new appliance. I purchased the Cuisinart model that is also a toaster oven and I love the darn thing. Our old toaster/convetion oven was on its way out and I saw this on sale so I grabbed it. But I hear great things about the smaller, more compact models as well.

Keto Air Fryer Recipes

What can you make in an air fryer? Oh my goodness, friends, there are so many options and I am trying a number of my own keto recipes in this fun new machine. Such as my Brown Butter Old Bay Wingsand my Buffalo Chicken Drumsticks. Both of these recipes work well in the oven, but take less than half the time in the air fryer.

I’ve also tried fried pickles and fried cheese, both coated in pork rinds from Pork King Good. That’s what I used for this air fryer fish recipe as well. Highly recommend the crushed pork rinds, but the fried pickles and cheese were less than satisfactory. The pickles got soggy after just a few minutes, and the cheese still melted too much and basically disappeared, although the pork rind crust that was left was phenomenal!

Air Fryer Tip: One thing I’ve found is that the bottoms of the food never gets that crispy unless you flip it partway through cooking. For air fryer chicken, start with the pieces skin side down and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, then flip over and cook another 10 to 20 to crisp up the skin.

How long you cook them will depend on the size of the chicken. Air fryer chicken wings take only about 20 minutes total!

Now, if you don’t have room or the budget for another kitchen applicance, I completely understand. Anything that can be air fried can also be cooked in the oven. If you’re dying for these fish sticks but don’t own or want to own an air fryer, I’ve included some instructions in the recipe notes. You know I am not the sort of person to leave hungry people hanging!

Oh and be sure to check out Pork King Good. They just came out with a cajun pork rind breading too. Which is funny since I added Cajun seasoning to these fish sticks!

Pat the fish dry and cut into sticks about 1 inch by 2 inches wide (how you are able to cut it will depend a little on what kind of fish you by and how thick and wide it is).

In a small shallow bowl, whisk together the mayo, mustard, and water. In another shallow bowl, whisk together the pork rinds and Cajun seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste (both the pork rinds and seasoning could have a fair bit of salt so dip a finger in to taste how salty it is).

Working with one piece of fish at a time, dip into the mayo mixture to coat and then tap off the excess. Dip into the pork rind mixture and toss to coat. Place on the air fryer rack.

Set to Air Fry at 400F and bake 5 minutes, the flip the fish sticks with tongs and bake another 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

If you don't have an air fryer, you can still make these delicious keto fish sticks. Simply preheat your oven to 425F and add several tablespoons of oil to a rimmed sheet pan. Place the sheet pan in the oven while it preheats.

Place the coated fish sticks on the pan and bake 5 minutes, then flip over and bake another 5 minutes.

Nutritional Disclaimer

Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program.I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them.I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.

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Comments

Is an air fryer also called a convection oven? My toaster oven has a convection option which I have not used much. These sound wonderful! Also, forgive me if this posts multiple times. When I tap the post button nothing seems to happen.

I think if I put the fish on a wire rack over a baking sheet that might help get the air circulating on all sides. I’m really looking forward to something crispy that I can dip in the Primal Kitchen sugar-free ketchup i just bought…I’ll give it a try soon and let you know…thanks!

I would recommend once you dip and ‘bread the fish put it in the refrigerator for a half hour before air frying. I have found that the breading will come loose from air frying. I love the air fryer and use it extensively especially since I make dinners for one. My husband does not do keto but he uses it for his fries.

I’ve always done that, even back when I was making regular fried chicken. If you’re using breading, no matter what the cooking method, it’s a good idea to set the coating before you cook the dish. So, yeah, that’s a great tip. Thanks for the reminder. I forgot to do that last time I used pork rind breadcrumbs.

Thank you for this tip! My mom loves her Phillips air fryer and when our toaster oven died, I decided to buy the Cuisinart shown in this post to replace our toaster oven and get the bonus of an air fryer. The tiny bit that was left after flipping the fish sticks tasted great, but what a mess! Even though I followed the directions as stated in the recipe, almost all of the breading was left on the basket and the fish was broken up into little pieces. I decided to never use it for anything breaded again which was very disappointing. This gives me hope! 🙂

Hi Carolyn, I was glad to see your recommendation of Pork King Good crumbs because I have a jar but haven’t tried them for breading. But did you know the ingredient list includes corn flour and msg? I didn’t even realize until I looked at the product listing again just now. It figures, the one time I don’t read the ingredients before I buy something… Why can’t pork rind crumbs just be pork rinds? Anyway, just something to note for others who might be concerned.

I did NOT know that. Just like you, I didn’t read the label that carefully. ARGH. Well in looking at the label, it seems it’s the seasoning that they use that contains these things. Perhaps we can prevail up them to find a different seasoning because it really shouldn’t need it.

Not sure why our original reply yesterday didn’t go through, but I’m going to try to repost as much as I remember. I’m still waking up and having coffee. 🙂

Our product was developed by a woman that has PCOS and has lost over 100lbs since when she started her Keto diet 4 years ago. Even though we started selling our product in August, we have personally been using and developing this product for a year.

Our very first batch that you both received contained extremely small amounts of MSG and corn flour (as a method of helping the seasoning to adhere to the pork rinds). We removed the MSG in our second batch and are now in the process of removing the corn flour completely.

We understand that some customers may have reservations about these ingredients and we’ve listened and have made the changes. (But just an FYI – there is more MSG to be found in a single serving of kale than what was in our serving of the Pork Rind Crumbs). 🙂

One of the luxuries of being a startup company is that we have the ability to pay attention to customer feedback and to make immediate changes to our processes, so feel free to reach out to us at any time with your concerns, questions, or recommendations!

On another note, the Cajun flavor is completely clean. No corn flour, no MSG.

We hope you give our product a shot! So far we’ve been absolutely blown away by the positive response from thousands of customers and the amazing recipes that users have come up with.

Hi Rick, thank you for your reply! I had mentioned the msg mostly because so many people want to avoid it. Personally, I don’t mind the msg as much as others; I know it’s a naturally occurring substance (much like nitrates and nitrites!) but I do try not to use anything with corn products. That’s a slippery slope issue for me. I really appreciate your company’s attentiveness to customer concerns and preferences. What a commendable approach to business! I look forward to seeing the new ingredients list, buying more jars of Pork King Good crumbs, and recommending your products to others. Thank you again, sincerely.

Carolyn, Can you post the link to your Cuisinart Air Fryer? Also congrats on the Keto Award for BEST KETO RECIPE WEBSITE. We all love you and appreciate all your hard work. Looking forward to all the new recipes.

Thanks, I’ve been jonesing for some fish sticks — nothing like comfort food now that the days are getting colder! I also appreciate your including instructions for those of us who don’t have air fryers; much as I’d love to get one, I have a tiny kitchen with only four feet of counter space so it’s not happening, ha ha.

Holy WOW these were AMAZING! So quick. So easy and they tasted exactly like frozen fish sticks! I dipped in some low sugar ketchup and this completely satisfied my craving! Thank you for the recipe!! New favorite for sure.

I just purchased an air fryer and am so excited to try this out! Just a quick question – is there a reason mayo was used versus an egg? That’s just what I’m used to for breading and I was wondering if it is maybe specific to the air fryer or using pork rinds versus a more traditional breading?

Hi Carolyn, I love all your recipes by the way! I’ve tried this twice with the Pork King Good and mayo mixture as stated in the recipe. For some reason the breading is too wet with mayo mixture and when I try to flip it or move it, the breading comes right off. It’s also only crispy for a short time before becoming mush. Also tried on chicken with the same issues. Any suggestions? Thank you

Hi Marina. It is tricky to flip them, I recommend a very good metal spatula to get under them. I am not sure what brand of mayo you are using, I use Primal Kitchen avocado mayo. But yes, they “unclips” very quickly, which is something I’ve noticed with all air fryer things. I once left some chicken wings in there while it was off and they became considerably less crisp very quickly. Sorry! These are best eaten right away.

We just received our Air Fryer today & tried this recipe tonight. What an Amazing & Delicious Recipe it is. The flavors of the mayonnaise, dijon mustard made it very moist. The coating made it crunchy which is what we love. Thank You for a Wonderful Recipe that we will use over & over.

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